Should Matariki be a public holiday?

I agree that Matariki should be a public holiday
because Matariki is a time to celebrate and it's a special time for the Maori culture.
Matariki is all about traditions and spending time with whanau,
Matariki is the start of the Maori New Year and should be honoured.

In traditional times, Matariki was a season to celebrate and prepare the ground for the
coming year. Matariki is known as the seven sisters or the eyes of God.
Matariki is celebrated by cooking traditional foods, exploring the outdoors
and spending time with whanau.  Matariki has been around for many years yet it
still hasn’t been made a public holiday.

I believe that if Matariki was to become a public holiday younger people could
understand the meaning of it and why it is important to our communities and our
cultural heritage. I believe matariki should become a public holiday because it is a time
for families to gather together and improve ourselves as better people and a time to
acknowledge our family members that have passed on.

If Matariki was a public holiday it would give people more time to do traditional things
with our families and learn more about the importance of Matariki.

Therefore I agree that Matariki should be a public holiday!